


Call and Response

by mikeneko



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Article parody, Gen, Parody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-02-14
Updated: 2004-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:31:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikeneko/pseuds/mikeneko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, first, Qwerty posts this:<br/><i>3. *ahem* *twiddles thumbs* you mentioned having saiyuki snippets lurking on your hard drive? Or, take a walk. Where are you?</i></p><p>Answer no. 1. The walk was to the Pit of Voles. I'd posted something, but it seemed to take a long time to appear in the directory. Holiday fic influx results in server slowness, I think.<br/>Answer no. 2. A short Saiyuuki fic.</p><p>So then Querty posts <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/xsmoonshine/45530.html?format=light">this on LJ</a>.</p><p>Let's haul out bits of another.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Call and Response

**Author's Note:**

  * For [qwerty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwerty/gifts).



> So, first, Qwerty posts this:  
>  _3\. *ahem* *twiddles thumbs* you mentioned having saiyuki snippets lurking on your hard drive? Or, take a walk. Where are you?_
> 
> Answer no. 1. The walk was to the Pit of Voles. I'd posted something, but it seemed to take a long time to appear in the directory. Holiday fic influx results in server slowness, I think.  
> Answer no. 2. A short Saiyuuki fic.
> 
> So then Querty posts [this on LJ](http://www.livejournal.com/users/xsmoonshine/45530.html?format=light).
> 
> Let's haul out bits of another.

One of the more puzzling figures of cult veneration from the end of the Golden Age is the 31st generation Toua Genjou Sanzou, who is said to have been responsible for bringing the five Tenchikaigen kyoumon to Tougenkyou from Tenjiku. The anonymous _Record of the Plague Years,_ written over 300 years after the fact, contains several apocryphal accounts. For example, when the Abbot of the Seven Hills Temple came to receive personal instruction from this widely reputed buddha, he brought with him (as was apparently a customary practice for their order), the ashes of the order's founder, the Sage Husieh.

> It is said that [when] the Honored Abbot, who was far advanced on the Eightfold Path yet perceived himself yet mired in illusion [ . . . ], was admitted to the Holy One's presence, he found him seated at zazen on the windowsill, smoking a cigarette. It is said that the Holy One, without speaking to the Honored Abbot, took the container with the remains of Sage Husieh, pried off the lid, and emptied his ashtray into it. When the Honored Abbot protested this action, the Holy One told him, it is said, to "fuck off."
> 
> Thus did the Honored Abbot achieve enlightenment. ( _Record,_ 384)

Beyond such ridiculously embellished stories, surprisingly little is known of Toua Genjou Sanzou's life despite his teachings being rumored to have assisted many toward the Pure Lands. His own first teacher is known to have been his predecessor, 30th generation Toua Koumyou Sanzou (Minekura 1:38). No other names were recorded in this role, although legends insist that the Bodhisattva Kanzeon took a personal interest in his enlightenment to the extent of assigning his final teacher. Toua Genjou Sanzou remains a popular figure in folk veneration.

In iconography, he is generally depicted dressed as a typical Toua-period sanzou with sutra, seated in somewhat lax variations of the lotus position. Often the left hand is shown holding the fan with which he "fans the flames of Buddhist devotion" (Cho 560:16). The most common distinguishing characteristics are a gold circle in his lap, and the right hand raised in a mudra with the middle finger extended. In certain predominately youkai districts, local custom dictates that beer be poured over these images while firearms are shot into the sky and cigarettes burned in the place of incense to ameliorate drought conditions. (From Nishi, J, "Detours off the middle path at the end of Togenkyou's Golden Age," _Eastern Tougenkyou Folklore Review_ 1216;10(14):15–26. Used with permission.)

**Author's Note:**

> Seven Hills is a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. (cough)
> 
> I'd forgotten this, but Qwerty reminded me of it a few weeks ago, and I dimly recalled posting it. So I looked it up.


End file.
